IJNS special issue: call for abstracts

[andre de carvalho]

         **** CALL FOR PAPERS ****

Special issue: "Non-Gradient Learning Techniques"

International Journal of Neural Systems, IJNS
http://www.wspc.com/journals/ijns/ijns.html

Guest Editors: Andre de Carvalho and Stefan C. Kremer

Submission deadline: 
Abstract:  Sept. 29th, 2000
Final version: Dec. 1st, 2000


BACKGROUND

Many of the learning techniques currently employed to train Artificial
Neural Networks are based on a gradient descendent of an error function.
Although they provide solutions for a large number of applications, they
have a number of limitations, including ending up in local minima,
spending large amounts of time traversing flat regions of the
error-space and requiring differentiable activation functions.  While
modifications to gradient-based algorithms have been proposed to deal
with these issues, there have also recently been a number of initiatives
to develop non-gradient-based techniques for learning.  The latter are
the focus of this special issue.


TOPICS

The aim of this special issue is to solicit and publish valuable papers
that provide a clear picture of the state of the art in this area.  We
encourage submissions of articles addressing, in addition to other
relevant issues, the following topics:

- Analysis of limitations to gradient learning approaches
- Non-gradient based learning algorithms 
- Evolutionary training
- Unsupervised learning
- Auto-associative memories
- Analysis and solutions for applications where non-gradient approaches
are required.
- Survey of non-gradient techniques
- Real world applications of non-gradient learning algorithms


INSTRUCTIONS

This special issue will have a mix of invited and openly solicited
papers. All contributed and invited papers will be refereed to ensure
high quality and relevance to IJNS readers.

Authors are encouraged to use LaTeX format. The IJNS LaTeX style files
can be downloaded from
http://www.wspc.com/others/style_files/journal/ijns/128-ijns.zip

The submissions should be sent by e-mail or computer disk in Postscript
or  PDF format (other file formats cannot be accepted). They should be
in English, not exceed 12 double spaced (excluding Figures and Tables)
pages and be formatted according to the Journal submission guidelines
found in http://www.wspc.com/journals/ijns/ijns.html

The title and the abstract of proposed papers should be sent separately
in  ASCII format by September 29th.

With your submission, please provide a cover letter with:

- The title of the paper;
- The author names together with their affiliation address, email and
telephone number.


IMPORTANT DATES

Submission of title and abstract (e-mail): Sept. 29th, 2000
Submission of final version deadline: Dec. 1st, 2000
Notification of acceptance: Jan 5th, 2001
Expected publication date: Mid-to-late 2001.

The materials should be submitted to one of the Guest Editors:


GUEST EDITORS

Dr. Andre de Carvalho
Guelph Natural Computation Group
Department of Computing and Information Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, Canada, N1G 2W1
E-mail: andre at snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca

Dr. Stefan C. Kremer
Guelph Natural Computation Group
Department of Computing and Information Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, Canada, N1G 2W1
E-mail: skremer at snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca